EasyPark tickets Vancouver driver four minutes after he paid

A customer received a ticket even though he paid at this EasyPark lot on Seymour Street. (Google Street View | @drex/Twitter)

A Vancouver broadcaster is speaking out after he got a ticket at a Vancouver parkade despite paying for parking.

Drex Chan, a morning radio host on Jack 96.9 Vancouver, told Daily Hive he’s frustrated that he has to navigate the arduous process of disputing the ticket even though he did nothing wrong.

“They make it really hard for you to reach out and contest it,” he said. “Likely banking on the fact you don’t grab a receipt from that machine, so you’ll pay [the ticket]. They make you jump through hoops to get rid of the ticket even though it’s not your fault.”

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Luckily, Chan did hang onto his receipt. It shows that he paid for overnight parking at 6:20 pm but received the ticket at 6:24 pm. The reason cited on the infraction notice? “Payment not made for parking.”

Orpheum Theatre. (Vancouver Civic Theatres)

Chan had gone to meet his husband for a show at The Orpheum Tuesday night, and he’d paid for all-night parking as a precaution in case the show ran past the lot’s closing time. The $70 fine was placed on his car at EasyPark’s lot at 1067 Seymour Street.

“I’m a media personality, so I have a platform where I can scream and moan and stamp my feet. But for regular people, there’s no way for them to really contest anything,” he said.

There is an option to dispute a ticket on EasyPark’s website, which Chan did. The parking company got back to him with a ticket number to indicate it’s working on the issue but still hadn’t solved it when Chan spoke with Daily Hive Wednesday.

This isn’t the first time he’s had trouble with a private parking lot operator in Vancouver, either. Some time ago, he got a ticket from Diamond Parking on a weekend he was out of town. He figured they must have noted the licence plate down wrong because the vehicle type noted on the fine didn’t match his car. The parking company didn’t let up though, and now Chan avoids parking there.

“Here’s the thing with these third-party parking companies like Impark, EasyPark, Diamond, any of those companies — none of their fines a legally enforceable,” Chan said.

Of course, if he parks there again, he’ll risk getting his vehicle impounded. But as a matter of principle, he won’t pay an incorrect ticket.

“I’d really like our municipal and provincial governments to regulate these organizations because they run unobstructed,” he said. “It’s been a nightmare for people in this city for decades.”

On Thursday morning, Chan woke an email from EasyPark that the ticket had been cancelled.

In a statement to Daily Hive, EasyPark’s director of client services Ravinder Bains confirmed that it voided Chan’s ticket, and resolved the issue the same calendar day.

“It appears the meter had a wireless system issue and was not communicating with our enforcement system,” Bains said.

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Editor’s note: A previous version of his story identified the driver as Drex Wilcomes. However, after marriage his name is Drex Chan. The story has been updated.